Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Alright I will admit it, we here at A Happy Green Life are dorks. There is at least one weekly conversation about the zombie apocalypse. Alright, I will come totally clean, it is usually my family talking about it and the Wards are just playing devil’s advocate to add to the conversation (Let me just say, so that you don’t all stop reading our blog because you think we are insane, that none of us really think that we are facing a zombie apocalypse).We have created our plan, in case we ever have to face this horrendous event, I will first mutter “I told you so,” under my breath and then we will all ban together and create an off grid, sustainable community. We all laugh about how the green skills we have acquired in the last few years will aid us in our survival.

One day Kristin came over to do some work and showed me (bum bum bum) REVOLUTIONS!!!! Oh my goodness, talk about a green eco show. No electricity, living sustainably, now that is our kind of show. I guess the militias, crossbows, and swords are kind of a downer, but hey at least there aren’t any zombies!

The show will be premiering Monday, September 17 at 10 pm on NBC. Check out the above link to watch the preview!-Amanda

Monday, July 30, 2012

Its Meatless Monday! Tonight we have cheer practice so we
need something quick and easy so we can all head out the door. Tonight we will
be having Vegetarian Chili!

If you are living anywhere near us you are probably thinking
to yourself, “Chili in this 105 degree weather?!?!” I know it might be crazy
but we would eat this recipe in a million degrees, it is one of our favorites!

Thursday, July 26, 2012

I wish that someone had told me what a CSA box was years
ago, since I wasn't privy to this amazing information for most of my life I am
making it a point to share this fabulous idea with everyone I know. Community
Supported Agriculture (or CSA) is a way for consumers to buy local, seasonal
food directly from the farmers growing it.Instead of going to the grocery store and buying food that has been
shipped from who knows where, and is who knows how old, fruits and veggies (and
sometimes other natural farm products) are picked and then made available to you.

It is an amazing opportunity for consumers to get fresh food
and meet the people who grow it. The farmers have an opportunity to meet the
people buying their products and they earn money that will help support the
farm.

Our family is lucky enough to live in an area that offers
multiple CSA programs. We have had the opportunity to try out some amazing
programs, we tried one that delivered a box of fresh fruits and veggies to our
door every other week, one that had a pick up right at the farm, and our
current favorite from Feeding Crain Farms offers buyers the chance to not only
get fresh fruits and veggies but custom made products such as marinara, bbq, jellies
and jams, and 100% organic household cleaning products!

It is amazing, my house is always full of fresh produce! I
have the ability to request more or less of different items and I know that it
is totally organic, completely fresh, and it tastes great!

So here is what I want you to do:

Visit http://www.localharvest.org/csa/look for the map of the USA that is covered
in green-those are the farms that offer CSA (there are a lot of them!) type in
your zip code and see what is available in your neighborhood.

Look at your grocery bill, do the math and see how much you
spend on produce. Wouldn’t you rather be spending that money on FRESH produce?
Yeah I think you do! Visit the websites of the CSA’s in your neighborhood and
see how much they charge-I bet it is less than you are spending monthly at the
store.

Sign up! Even if you only do it for a month it is a great
opportunity for your family to try produce straight from the farm. Many of the
CSA farms will even allow you to visit to see where your food is coming
from.We have our own garden year round
so we request food that we can’t get at home, we also only do it in the spring
and summer, the great thing is you can adjust your box to your family’s needs!

Last but not least, enjoy!

-Amanda

If you live in the local Sacramento area check out some of
our families favorite CSA programs:

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Last year I had one sad little bell pepper plant, I only had
one little pepper on it and it didn’t grow
larger than a silver dollar. This year I have12 giant plants all full of
peppersand they are finally big enough
to stuff!! So for Meatless Monday we shall have meatless stuffed bell peppers!!!

Vegetarian Stuffed Bell Peppers

Serves 6

6 large sweet peppers

2 cups cooked brown rice

3 small tomatoes, chopped

1 cup frozen corn, thawed

1 small sweet onion, chopped

1/3 cup canned red beans, rinsed
and drained

1/3 cup canned black beans,
rinsed and drained

3/4 cup cubed Monterey Jack
cheese

1 can (4-1/4 ounces) chopped ripe
olives

4 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

3/4 cup meatless spaghetti sauce

1/2 cup water

4 tablespoons grated parmesan
cheese, divided

1.Cut tops off peppers and remove
seeds; set aside. In a large bowl, combine the rice, tomatoes, corn, onion and
beans. Stir in the Monterey Jack cheese, olives, basil, garlic, salt and
pepper. Spoon into peppers.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Its almost the 4th of July!! I have been looking
around the web for different ‘green’ ideas for Independence Day to share with
you guys, and everywhere I kept seeing, buy local!

I know we have talked about why it is important before but I
just wanted to go over it again (I want you all to remember this).

The average produce in the US is picked 4 to 7 days before
being placed on your shelf, there are some reports that say it can be up to 60
days. There are even reports that say vacuum-packed meat can be up to 112 days
old in the supermarket! This is all after it has traveled an average of 1500
miles to reach the store-and that average is for American grown products, it is
definitely longer if it is coming from Mexico, Canada, South America, or Asia.

To me that is gross! I like my food to be fresh! I also like
to know exactly where my food is coming from. Am I buying it from a pesticide
using corporate farm or the organic farmer who lives here in town? Is my meat
the product of hormone fed cattle, or organic free range raised and butchered
here in town?

It isn’t just about knowing how old your food is and where
it is coming from. By buying locally you are helping the planet. Shipping goods
across the country equals tons of toxic emissions. Transportation by shipping
produces emissions of 1 billion metric tons of Co2 and uses 11 billion gallons
of fuel per year!

It requires more
packaging which equals more buildup in the landfills and more toxins in our
planet. The EPA estimates that the US produces 11.9 million tons of plastic
packaging each year, 90% of this ends up in the landfill after its first use.

So when you are shopping today or tomorrow for your bbq,
take the time to look up your local farmers market or butcher or even your
local brewery (I am pretty confident that more than one of you will crack open
a beer to celebrate the 4th!), I bet you have one closer to you than
you think. I also bet the food will be fresher which means it will taste
better! Not only will you be getting a better product but you will be
supporting your neighbors and putting money into your own community!

Monday, July 2, 2012

I LOVE Michael Recycle books! That is why the original Michael Recycle
by Ellie Bethel is our book of the month! Let me start off by saying that this
book and the rest of the series (Michael Recycle Meets Litterbug Doug, Michael Recycle Saves Christmas, Litterbug Doug: In the Missions of Michael Recycle, Michael Recycle and the Tree Top Cops) are children’s
books, but they are fun for the whole family to read!
Sometimes its hard to teach the kids how important recycling is (and how
cool) this story about Michael Recycle and his adventures as a superhero whose
power allows him to teach people about recycling make recycling and doing
things for the earth, fun and cool!

The kids will have a fun time hearing the story and learning different ways
to keep their town clean. After cleaning up a town, the people declare: “To
Michael Recycle! The green-caped crusader, our super-green hero, the planet’s
new savior!”

After you read this great story check out the back for helpful tips to keep
your community clean!

Well hello fans! Long time no see! We must apologize for our month long
absence, June was full of family vacations for the Happy Green Life team so we
all took a little ‘vacation’ from the blog. But don’t worry, we were working
hard at being green while we were away!

The Aller family took ourselves our first family vacation with all three
kids to the most magical place on earth, Disneyland! While there I began to
wonder if Disneyland is Green, so I stuck my poor hubby with two strollers, and
three crazy kids and I ran off to do some investigating!

Disneyland actually has an environmental program
called Environmentalist. Their program aims to keep Walt Disney’s conservation legacy alive through
diverse environmental policies. Did you know that the lagoon scenes in Nemo’s
Submarine Voyage are made from recycled glass bottles? Even cooler the submarines
themselves are propelled by a zero-emission magnetic coil system.

The railroads are
all run on fuel 98% derived from soybeans, and the floats are all electric-NO
EMMISIONS!!

They have also
begun replacing ALL of their lighting with energy efficient alternatives, and
work with conserving air conditioning and heating. They are saving two megawatts
every day-that is enough energy to power 400 homes.

There are recycling
bins throughout the park, and all bags are made from 100% recycled products!

My favorite is Disneyland’s
thermo energy storage tank. It provides and energy efficient way of cooling air
for the park, and cools water at night so that less electricity is used in peak
hours!

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This is our journey to live a happy green life. We are sharing the things we learn along the way that will make it easier to save the planet and save us money. Making one green decision everyday will open our eyes to other ways we can be better at living a happy green life.

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The Ward Family

Kristin has a degreein Anthropology from California State University, Sacramento. She worked forNordstrom for 8 years working in various stores across the country, as adepartment manager and later a regional manager for the North East Region. Shehas been married to her husband, Michael, since 2007 and they had their firstchild, Jayden, in 2009. After having Jayden, Kristin decided to be a stay athome mom. After deciding to stay at home with Jayden, she felt her entrepreneurialspirit beckon and began looking for ways to help make money for theirfamily. She opened a cloth diapercompany called diapeze, and she made cloth diapers and other eco-friendly productsfor three years. Living a green lifebecame a passion for her, and she soon found other products that she wanted tomake and offer to other green families.With the help of a friend, A Happy Green Life was started. After a year, Kristin became the sole ownerand operator of A Happy Green Life. Sheis continually pursuing new ideas for green products to offer to A Happy GreenLife customers!

About Chef Mike

Mike Ward is currently the Executive Chef of El Paseo Restaurant in Mill Valley. For the past 15 years he has cooked professionally in restaurants across the country. He started cooking in a small bar and grill and soon realized he wanted to know what my options in this industry were. He jumped around restaurants in Northern California for 6-7 years, always looking for what felt right. In 2007, his wife Kristinwas presented with an opportunity to move to Boston for her job. He was excited to expand his abilities and knowledge of cooking. He had the great fortune to work for some of the best chefs in the country while living on the east coast, including Tony Maws, Frank McClelland’s New France Corporation and Terrance Brennan. He soon realized the beauty of using all natural, locally grown product, not only for the better flavor of the product, but also because of the impact on the environment, your local economy and your health. He is excited to share his insight on ways to be more green in your home and restaurant kitchen too.